Originally posted by slowspoke MIDTERM REPORT CARD : half way to goal race I'm about 2.5 months into the plan, with about 3 months left. I started at 10 mpw and am now at 20 and will max at 37. Just ran my baseline 5k course and I'm down from 23:45 (7:40 pace) to 22:18 (7:11 pace). Had it been an actual race with taper and I wasn't on tired legs, I'd have to assume I could manage about a 7:00 to 7:05 pace, especially in a race setting. The MacMillan calculator says I want to be at about 21:10 (6:50 pace) for a 1:38 half. I can see the light I need to make sure I stay healthy because it looks like I'm tracking toward my goal. I'm also down about 4 lbs.

Looking good slowspoke! I suspect you'll be below 7:00 for a 5k by race day.

I'm about 2.5 months into the plan, with about 3 months left. I started at 10 mpw and am now at 20 and will max at 37.

Just ran my baseline 5k course and I'm down from 23:45 (7:40 pace) to 22:18 (7:11 pace). Had it been an actual race with taper and I wasn't on tired legs, I'd have to assume I could manage about a 7:00 to 7:05 pace, especially in a race setting.

The MacMillan calculator says I want to be at about 21:10 (6:50 pace) for a 1:38 half. I can see the light I need to make sure I stay healthy because it looks like I'm tracking toward my goal. I'm also down about 4 lbs.

Hey - thanks for checking back in on the progress. I wondered how it would turn out. Sounds like things are going well so far. Just keep building those miles (and rationing the pizza and donuts) and you'll keep getting faster. Running lots, being light, and staying uninjured are the keys to getting faster in running, and the rest is just icing.

I'm going to update this thread for any involved that may be interested, and also because it keeps a nice timeline of my training progress that I can refer back to.

Wayyyy back in May, I finished my goal race at 1:45:11. The hills were killer On a flat course I would have been closer to my 1:40 goal. I am very happy with the results. Two weeks after that I ran a 21:10, 6:50 pace 5k, so my speed is clearly geared for short races.

Keeping that in mind, I have since then set my sights on Indy Monumental full marathon which is about a week from now. I am aiming for a 3:30, about an 8:00 pace on a flat course. Anything close to that I will be very happy with.

I did a 4 month bike focus, after my Spring HM, this summer with very minimal running. My marathon plan started after that, in August. I've averaged about 32 mpw for 10 weeks, with a few down weeks. I peaked at 40 mpw but had mild runner's knee after that, not enough to stop running, but discomfort starting at around 2 miles in that would fade after 4 or 5 miles.

After this race, I plan to stay around the same mileage for the winter to allow my legs to get used to it. With that base, I should be able to start going 40-50 mpw without runner's knee slowing me down. I believe it was an over-use, fatigue, muscle tightness problem more than an imbalance or stride issue.

The funny thing is that this is really good advice. It IS this simple. Executing is the hard part. Running isn't complicated, no special plans are necessary. Go out there and run, then run some more, then some more after that. When you start getting north of 35 mpw you'll might want to do some thinking about specific workouts.